The present invention relates to a connector suited for connecting a printed circuit board to make electrically conductive connection, and more particularly to a connector for electrical connection of a printed circuit board incorporated in a game cartridge which is frequently inserted in and out for use in a video game machine, for example.
Recently, the video game has come to be very popular among not only children but also grown-ups, and this kind of TV game set usually comprises a main part to be connected with a TV receiver having a computer built-in, a game cartridge to be inserted into the main part, and a control unit. The game cartridge comprises a printed circuit board with a ROM (Read Only Memory) having various kinds of software programs for the game stored therein, and one side of the printed circuit board is exposed to the outside forming a package for connection. Consequently by providing an electrical connection between these two printed circuit boards, i.e., one for the game cartridge, and the other for the main printed circuit board on the computer incorporated in the main part, the game operation is feasible. For the connection of these two printed circuit boards, a cartridge type connector as shown in FIG. 18 is generally used.
This known connector has a construction in which one end of a couple of elastic slips of conductors 101, 102 is connected electrically by soldering with the main printed circuit board 103 incorporated in the computer, while the other end thereof is bent to form spring portions 101a, 102a, and at the same time contact points 101b, 102b are formed at the locations where the spring portions 101a, 102b face each other at the shortest distance. The couple of contact points 101b, 102b are so arranged as to face each other at the deeper side of the connector inlet 104 with smaller spacing than the thickness of the printed circuit board of the cartridge. Thus, by inserting the printed circuit board 105 of the cartridge into the gap between contactors 101b, 102b, both spring parts 101a, 102a are expanded to the outside as shown by the arrow, and by the elasticity preserved between both spring parts 101a, 102a, both contactors 101b, 102b are depressed on the circuitry pattern of the printed circuit board 105 to connect electrically the two printed circuit boards 103, 105 with each other.
By the way, since the game cartridge is inserted in when it is used and taken out when it is not used, the pair of contact points 101b, 102b are quite frequently connected and disconnected. They are supposed to be engaged more than twenty to thirty thousand times, i.e., more than twenty to thirty thousand repetitions of insertion in and out. Consequently, a specific design should be given on the spring parts 101a and 102a so as to be adequately endurable to the stress incurred by the deformation due to insertion of the printed circuit board 105. That is to say, the spring parts 101a, 102a are required to be provided with a considerable amount of preload beforehand. For that purpose, it is inevitable that expensive spring materials of high performance are used for the conductor slips 101, 102, and the thickness of the platings applied on the contact points 101b, and 102b shall be also comparatively large resulting in cost increase of the connector. Moreover, it is unavoidable that, in spite of the expensive materials as mentioned above being incorporated in the construction, too frequent repetitions of insertions in and out cause peeling off of the circuitry pattern on the printed circuit board 105, or troubles such as those caused by improper electric connection due to deterioration incurred on the spring parts 101a, 101b, affecting negatively on durability of the contactor, accompanied with some inconvenience in operation of insertion requiring some excessive force.
In order to solve the above mentioned problems, a connector as shown in FIG. 19 has been proposed, for example. This connector is provided with a couple of conductive slips 206, 207 on the female contact side, which are respectively formed into meanderingly curved three contact points 206a, 206b, 206c, and 207a, 207b, 207c, respectively and further provided with a rotatable expander member 208 of substantially elliptic form between the conductive slips 206, 207 so that, as shown by the solid line in the drawing, the printed circuit board 205 may be positioned as shown by the solid line in the drawing prior to the insertion thereof. Then both of the conductive slips 206, 207 are expanded outward by this expander member 208, letting the printed circuit board 205 be inserted, and thereafter the expander member 208 is rotated by an angle of 90.degree. as shown by one dot chain line in the drawing so as to let each of the contact points 206a, 206b, 206c, and 207a, 207b, 207c be depressed on the printed circuit board 205.
Taking the above construction, it is feasible to protect the circuitry pattern and contacts from deterioration due to friction by eliminating the sliding of contacting points 206a, 206b, 206c, and 207a, 207b, 207c at the time of insertion in and out of the printed circuit board 205. On the other hand, such construction needs unavoidably incorporation of various members and materials such as expander member 208, controlling unit, etc., not only resulting in a considerably complicated construction but also in an expensive connector. Besides, the operation of the expander part 208 is involved with considerably troublesome operation since precise rotational operation of the expander part 208 is necessary.